Duncan: Dampier’s Parker plan works for Spurs

DALLAS — The Erick Dampier-Tony Parker brouhaha appears to have been defused. Dampier said he regrets his comments about planning to put Parker on his back in Game 3, and the NBA has absolved him of those remarks.

But, of course, the story won’t die. It was a topic of conversation at Spurs shootaround this morning.

Tim Duncan said he hadn’t heard of Dampier’s promise, but he’s not going to dissuade the Mavericks center from trying to carry it out.

“He’s knocked (Parker) down before,” Duncan said. “If he knocks him down again, that’s great. It will get him in foul trouble and get him out of the game. So good for us.”

Asked he felt an added responsibility to protect Parker from harm, like a big brother, Duncan shrugged.

“Tony can take care of himself,” Duncan said. “He’s a big, tough guy.”

Duncan also played coy in response to another brewing mini-controversy. A day earlier, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki defended Dampier by saying he “certainly doesn’t have the reputation of being a dirty player. They got one, we don’t.”

Nowitizki didn’t elaborate on which Spurs player he thought to be dirty. Duncan wouldn’t speculate, either.

“Was he talking about me? Was he talking about Tony?” Duncan said. “You’re going to have to specify who he’s talking about, because I’m not sure.”

It’s just a guess, Duncan was told, but you have to believe he was talking about Bruce Bowen, a player who has drawn the Mavericks’ ire before.

“Oh, Bruce,” Duncan said, as if he’d just had an epiphany. “I didn’t think about him.”